We love to set up discrete categories to simplify information processing, whereas natural events tend to occur in a continuous fashion as a spectrum. Homosexuality and heterosexuality are yet another installment of our propensity to create discrete entities. Alfred Kinsey way back in the 1950’s accurately described how we set up sexual orientation as discrete entities, whereas it is a spectrum. He placed homosexuality and heterosexuality on opposite poles of the same spectrum, capturing the continuous nature. Unfortunately, this particular arrangement fails to capture the true nature of sexual orientation, because homosexuality and heterosexuality trade off against each other, meaning that bisexuals represented by the mid-section must be less hetero than heterosexuals and less homo than homosexuals, when bisexuals frequently have robust motivations of both forms. What makes sense and is described in the Dimensions Of Sexual Orientation chapter of Outing the TRUTH About Sexual Orientation, is separate homoerotic and heteroerotic dimensions: Bisexuals have robust motivations for both behavioral propensities, “heterosexuals” heteroerotic >> homoerotic motivation, and “homosexuals” homoerotic >> heteroerotic motivation. It makes sense and aligns with how nature favors continuums, but many still prefer to see discrete homosexual and heterosexual categories that really only contribute to the disorientation of sexual orientation!
Mar 292017